It has been confirmed that London has expressed a bid for the 2017 World Athletics Championships. With the Olympics village ready in anticipation for London 2012 the bid would benefit the capital financially in the years following the costly Olympics and greatly in terms of tourism.

Hugh Robertson, the minister for sport, said in an official statement via the IAAF that as host for the Championships it would be a “wonderful legacy from London 2012”.

The popularity that the likes of Lord Sebastien Coe, London 2012 Chairman, believes that the Olympics will bring to Track and Athletics has had a big influence on the decision to go ahead with this bid.

Controversy of the use of the Olympics stadium in the aftermath of the Olympics has once again arisen. While it is almost certain that West Ham will inherit the stadium following the games, Tottenham Hotspur are still in dispute, despite their public development plans of ridding the stadium of its running track.

So far Doha in Qatar and an unnamed Spanish city have also been rumoured to be bidding to be event hosts.